When Shinji, Gold, and Siegfried returned to Mirenia City, someone was already waiting in the parking lot and asked the three of them to go and see Vlad III immediately.
Gold showed obvious dissatisfaction with this. Even though he was scolded by Shinji once, he still couldn't stand Danik's practice of following Vlad III as his master, thinking that this was a disgrace to the entire Thousand Worlds Tree.
"What a useless master." Gold muttered while looking at Siegfried who was expressionless and silent. Compared with Vlad III, Siegfried was obviously much better, and of course my level as a master was higher.
On the contrary, Shinji admired Danic. He understood the character of the servant and reached a consensus with the servant in the most appropriate way. In order to stimulate Vlad III's subjective initiative, he did not care about personal honor or disgrace. After all, he was a monster who could make the old bug Matou Zouken suffer, and he was a hundred times stronger than the fat man who could not recognize the situation beside him.
No matter what the two of them felt in their hearts, whether they were willing or not, Danic was the patriarch of the Thousand World Trees, and Vlad III was the leader of the Black Side, and their orders could not be disobeyed, at least not for now.
Later, in the royal palace, the three saw Vlad III sitting on the throne and Danik standing beside him.
Vlad III asked, "Assassin, report your actions last night."
Shinji had anticipated this question. His mission last night was to further investigate the defense system of the Thousand World Tree Clan, but he appeared on the outskirts of Tulifas and met the Judge that the Black Party wanted to win over. How could this not make people curious
Of course, Shinji had prepared his answer in advance. He said in a serious tone, "At 8 p.m. last night, we left Mirenia and headed towards Tulifas to conduct a second survey of the barriers along the way. According to my estimate, the survey would take at least four hours, but I didn't expect the survey to go so smoothly. Not only did we not find any new problems, but the loopholes we had previously discovered were also well resolved. I think this was Archer's masterpiece."
Having said this, Shinji paused for a moment, and when Danic nodded, he continued:
"As expected of a great sage, he knows so much about magic. Thanks to him, the survey was completed at about 22:20 last night. My Master Fiore's rest time is around 23:00, so I decided that it would be meaningless to return to Mirenia. So I took the initiative to go to Tulifas, which I had never been to, to investigate."
"At 11:30, Tulifas finished surveying the terrain and continued to move outward. On the road outside the city, I found the ruler. I thought this was an opportunity."
"Ruler has the privilege to influence the direction of the war. If we can use it, the Red side will lose. Even if we can't use it, we should leave a good impression on the Ruler to prevent her from being lured by the Red side."
"She didn't come back with you, probably because you failed to win her over." Vlad III put his hands on the armrests of the throne, with no expression of joy or anger on his face.
"As the Grand Duke said." Shinji bowed his head slightly to show his regret. "Ruler is of noble character and firm will. He strictly abides by the principle of fairness and is determined to keep a distance from both sides. Although the attempt to win them over was unsuccessful, I think this result is not unacceptable. At least we cannot win them over, and the same is true for the Red Team."
"Do you know ruler's real name?" Danic asked.
"Ruler has never hidden the fact that she is the Joan of Arc."
"It turns out to be the saint of France." Danic obviously knew something about the legend of Joan of Arc.
"Because she strictly abides by the rules and won't cross them, I have a new idea - use my job skills to lurk around the ruler, and as long as the red team shows up, I can catch them off guard."
"Good strategy."
Vlad III approved of Shinji's idea.
"No one would ignore the existence of the Arbitrator, and no one would have thought that there would be assassins lurking around the Arbitrator. Unfortunately—"
"—It's a pity that the Red team didn't even think about winning over Ruler, but wanted to get rid of her. I thought Ruler would join hands with me to punish Red Lancer, but she was even more stubborn than I thought. She rejected my proposal on the grounds that the Red-Black War and the attack on Ruler were different events. I had no choice but to fight Red Lancer. I should have let Ruler fight Red Lancer first, and then come out to take advantage at the end."
This is of course not the truth. Although Jeanne is very strong and has privileges, Shinji still does not think she can defeat Karna, and Karna's golden armor also determines that Shinji's sneak attack cannot cause fatal injuries. Instead of wasting time and effort on useless work, it is better to stand up and leave a good impression on both sides, isn't it beautiful
Before saying this, Shinji had already determined that the observation magic of Mirenia Castle could only transmit images but not sounds. The people in the castle did not know what Shinji and Jeanne had said, and with Jeanne's personality, she would not follow them to the castle and expose them in person.
"Don't worry, assassin. Even I would make the same choice as you."
Not only did Vlad III not blame Shinji for his mistake, but he gave him a very high evaluation.
"I don't deserve such praise from the Grand Duke." Shinji lowered his head even more.
"Excessive modesty will make people feel hypocritical. You have proved your strength with your achievements. Tell me what you think of the Red Lancer."
"Yes, Grand Duke. Red Lancer is no less powerful than Black Saber. Both as a Heroic Spirit and a Servant, she is the best of the best. She also has the same immortality as Saber."
"Saber, what do you think?" Vlad III turned his gaze to Siegfried.
Siegfried glanced at his Master, and seeing that he had no intention of objecting, he said, "Assassin is right. The Red Lancer Karna is indeed worthy of such an evaluation."
"Karna!" Vlad III and Danik looked at each other, the former taking it seriously while the latter was facing a formidable enemy. "Are you sure?"
"This has been confirmed by Red Lancer himself."
"He disdains that kind of pretense."
Shinji and Siegfried spoke almost at the same time.
Danic snorted heavily, his wrinkle-free face was cold: "It only took two days to prepare such a catalyst. Locke Belfebon - although he is the Minister of Summoning Science, he can't do it alone... Belfebon's allies... El-Melloi, and Sophia Li from the Spirit Summoning Department? The three major departments have joined forces, and the Magic Association is really determined to destroy us. But Karna alone is far from enough! We have the Grand Duke, Saber, Archer, and powerful servants like Assassin. Victory will definitely belong to us. The Grand Duke -"
Vlad III understood and said, "Next time we meet the Red Lancer, I will fight with Saber."
Siegfried frowned slightly, then quickly let go. As a warrior, he wanted to have a life-and-death duel with Karna, but this was not a one-on-one duel, but a war, and concentrating superior forces to defeat the opponent was the most common approach.
Shinji also had a similar expression, but his brows were furrowed and did not relax. He took a step forward and said in a deep voice:
"Grand Duke, Chief of the Danik Clan, can you please listen to me?"
PS: Since the Holy Grail War, Servants have been rampant, the world is in strife, the country is in danger, and all living beings are in dire straits. I, Matou Shinji, have swept the world and swept across the eight wildernesses. All the people are attracted to me and admire my virtue. This is not achieved by power, but is the destiny!